'terrain-reliant' originates from the combination of 'terrain' and 'reliant', where 'terrain' refers to the physical features of a tract of land and 'reliant' means dependent on something.

'terrain' comes from the Latin word 'terra', meaning 'earth', and 'reliant' is derived from the Old French 'relier', meaning 'to bind'.

Initially, 'terrain' referred to the earth or land, and 'reliant' meant dependent. Together, they evolved to describe something dependent on land features.